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As the Year of Goat arrives close to Valentine's Day, the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA)'s programme "Clap... Tap... Step... A-Go-Go" will celebrate the romantic occasion with five heartwarming and youthful musical films in February featuring brilliant starlets of the time such as Connie Chan, Nancy Sit and Josephine Siao as well as the likes of Lui Kay, Cheung Ching and Alan Tang.
The five selected films are all from the 1960s, namely "Girls Are Flowers" (1966) with screen lovers Connie Chan and Lui Kay; the youthful and touching "Bunny Girl" (1967); "The Young Lovers" (1967) in which Connie Chan plays dual roles; the mysterious love story "Beauty in the Mist" (1968); and the comedy "Spring Love" (1968). The screenings will be held from February 14 to 22 at the Cinema of the HKFA.
If girls are flowers then boys can be thorny problems for the budding blossoms. Connie Chan plays the orphan girl in "Girls Are Flowers", and experiences the various emotions caused by jealousy, arguments and misunderstanding with her young lover Lui Kay. The duet "Girls are Flowers", performed by Connie Chan and Lui Kay in the film, was a great hit and caused much nostalgia after being resuscitated years later on television.
In "Bunny Girl", Lui Kay is the well-bred son of a wealthy family who runs away from home to stay with a feisty ghetto lass played by Nancy Sit. Lui makes a meagre living as a martial arts novelist and encourages Sit to study. The film was Sit's first turn as a leading actress and her performance oozes innocence and defiance, while Lui's delicate features and genteel presence made him the perfect love interest at that time.
Directed by Wong Yiu, "The Young Lovers" features a love story between a cadet pilot and a flight attendant, played by Lui Kay and Connie Chan respectively. A gangster subplot involving diamond smuggling makes Chan a stalking and kidnap victim. The film ends with an actioned-packed finale choreographed by kung-fu master Lau Kar-leung, in which Chan cross-dresses as a newspaper boy to save the flight attendant - also played by her.
"Beauty in the Mist" is a love tale beyond the grave, in which Lui Kay and Connie Chan play a young painter, Lai, and a stage actress, Anne, who was brutally murdered 30 years earlier. The film contains a variety of elements including love, apparitions, mystery and action, taking the audience on a dreamy journey of romance.
In "Spring Love", Josephine Siao plays the leader of an all-girls band, who is forced to marry a stranger (Lui Kay) by her father. Her "spice girls" play tricks on Lui, staging cheerful songs and dances and creating hilarious situations. The influence of Western popular music and television programmes on young people is very apparent.
The films are in Cantonese and without subtitles.
Tickets priced at $40 are now available at URBTIX. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities (and one accompanying minder), full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card bookings can be made at 2111 5999 or on the Internet at www.urbtix.hk.
Programme details can be found in "ProFolio 75" available at all performing venues of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. For programme enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900 or browse the website at www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/2015cny/index.html.
Ends/Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Issued at HKT 13:54
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